Scottish Parliament

Written Answers

Thursday 26 August 1999

Scottish Executive

Fire Service

Mr Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether a single Scottish Fire Service would be more efficient and cost effective than the current structure.

Angus MacKay: There is at present no evidence on that point, but the current structure is under review and efficiency and cost-effectiveness will be important considerations in the evaluation of alternatives.

Fisheries

Richard Lochhead (North-East Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will make available to the Parliament copies of background papers on fisheries and related matters prepared for the Executive and, if so, whether it will make them available at the same time as they are made available to Ministers.

Mr John Home Robertson: A common background briefing note on fisheries was prepared for both MSPs and Ministers and is available through the Scottish Parliament Information Centre. I have arranged for a copy to be sent to Mr Lochhead. Other fisheries related documents are posted regularly on the Scottish Executive’s internet site.

Housing

Bristow Muldoon (Livingston) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what the outstanding housing debt for: (a) each local authority and (b) each housing association with more than 1000 units was for: (i) 1996-97, and (ii) 1997-98, expressed as a total and broken down into debt per household.

Ms Wendy Alexander: The information requested in respect of local authority housing debt is shown in the table below. Information on housing association debt in 1996-97 and 1997-98 is not available.

  

 

31 March 1997 
  


31 March 1998 
  



Council

Total 


Per Household 


Total 


Per Household 



 

£ 


£ 


£ 


£ 



Aberdeen City

142,427,213 


4,642 


133,239,000 


4,574 



Aberdeenshire

157,671,543 


9,180 


153,481,543 


9,285 



Angus

37,793,914 


3,528 


34,809,000 


3,367 



Argyll & Bute

53,906,786 


7,278 


52,418,000 


7,327 



Clackmannanshire

27,345,220 


4,043 


26,187,000 


4,002 



Comhairle nan Eilean Siar

45,757,994 


21,493 


44,703,239 


21,716 



Dumfries & Galloway

110,529,667 


7,569 


109,532,000 


7,833 



Dundee City

116,284,461 


4,960 


113,295,971 


5,162 



East Ayrshire

84,493,508 


4,208 


83,493,000 


4,346 



East Dumbartonshire

46,760,519 


6,902 


45,643,000 


7,014 



East Lothian

45,204,130 


4,182 


43,049,000 


4,091 



East Renfrewshire

26,309,700 


5,743 


25,328,000 


5,854 



Edinburgh City

286,118,242 


8,595 


282,494,832 


9,160 



Falkirk

98,680,384 


4,276 


94,653,000 


4,251 



Fife

214,562,086 


4,981 


209,959,000 


5,067 



Glasgow

1,093,506,434 


10,341 


1,099,416,373 


11,047 



Highland

225,310,193 


11,210 


222,047,000 


11,569 



Inverclyde

100,958,656 


7,538 


96,216,000 


7,748 



Midlothian

26,521,880 


3,149 


24,618,000 


3,009 



Moray

49,330,940 


6,331 


49,254,000 


6,573 



North Ayrshire

90,916,644 


5,097 


90,553,000 


4,960 



North Lanarkshire

244,203,645 


4,541 


231,923,000 


4,491 



Orkney

5,580,105 


5,319 


4,760,062 


4,803 



Perth & Kinross

50,299,659 


4,700 


48,097,000 


4,704 



Renfrewshire

156,836,362 


6,666 


148,160,000 


6,623 



Scottish Borders

71,476,766 


8,300 


69,293,000 


8,654 



Shetland Islands

59,993,899 


25,218 


60,124,125 


25,994 



South Ayrshire

60,218,484 


5,051 


60,470,000 


5,422 



South Lanarkshire

252,379,612 


6,357 


233,204,000 


6,166 



Stirling

49,880,499 


5,597 


45,629,000 


5,363 



West Dumbartonshire

92,276,726 


5,877 


91,834,000 


6,013 



West Lothian

84,218,791 


4,888 


70,163,000 


3,918 



 
 
 
 
 


Scotland

4,207,754,662 


6,772 


4,098,047,145 


6,898

Justice

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it intends to review the administration of justice in civil actions by rendering the Court of Session competent to raise in the Sheriff Court some forms of civil action for which the Court of Session at present has exclusive jurisdiction, in particular whether jurisdiction will be granted to the Sheriff Court in respect of the following civil remedies: (i) declarators of nullity of marriage; (ii) for reduction of a decree of divorce; (iii) adjudication; (iv) the grant of a warrant for inhibition, and (v) reduction relation to questions of heritable right or title and recall of sequestration.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Scottish Executive has no plans for a general review of the jurisdiction of the sheriff court in relation to matters which are currently within the exclusive jurisdiction of the Court of Session. As regards the matters referred to particularly in the Question the following is the position:

  1. In relation to declarator of nullity of marriage this was a subject of consultation in Improving Scottish Family Law and will be considered in relation to family law matters generally;

  2. For reduction of a decree of divorce: this is not a matter which was included within the recent consultation on family law but will be considered in relation to the responses to that consultation;

  3. Adjudication: this matter is currently the subject of consideration by the Scottish Law Commission as part of its Fifth Programme of Law Reform - Ministers will consider the Law Commission’s recommendations in due course when received;

  4. The grant of a warrant for inhibition: this has been the subject of recommendations by the Scottish Law Commission in its Report Diligence on the Dependence and Admiralty Arrestments. In the recommendations the Scottish Law Commission has recommended that the sheriff court should have jurisdiction to grant a warrant for inhibition. Ministers are currently considering this Report and will make a public announcement about its recommendations in due course; and

  5. Reduction in relation to questions of heritable right or title and recall of sequestration: These are not matters which are currently under review.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there are quotas for the number of temporary Sheriffs in Scotland and when permanent positions will be filled.

Mr Jim Wallace: There is no fixed complement of temporary Sheriffs and numbers are kept under regular review. Vacancies for permanent Sheriffs are advertised and filled from the field who apply. The numbers of Permanent Sheriffs are also kept under review in consultation with Sheriffs Principal.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether there is an existing policy allowing the Procurator Fiscal to accept fines as an alternative to trial.

Lord Hardie: Procurators Fiscal are authorised by Section 302 of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 to issue conditional offers of a fixed penalty (commonly referred to as "fiscal fines") as an alternative to prosecution in relation to certain offences. In addition, I have issued confidential guidance to Procurators Fiscal regarding their use of fiscal fines as an alternative to prosecution which includes directions as to situations in which Procurators Fiscal must not issue a fiscal fine. These include cases involving overtones of sexual behaviour or racial motivation or aggravation and cases involving the possession of Class A drugs.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of cases reported to the Procurator Fiscal are marked "no proceedings".

Lord Hardie: During the most recent year for which the requested information is available (April 1998 - March 1999) 13.8 per cent of the total reports received by Procurators Fiscal were marked "no proceedings".

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will act on the Scottish Office proposals in "Improving Scottish Family Law" (March 1999) on co-habitation, and, if so, whether it plans to act on any of the recommendations to give single sex couples equal rights of succession and property.

Mr Jim Wallace: The consultation paper Improving Scottish Family Law issued by The Scottish Office in March of this year encouraged a wide range of responses to the proposals, including those relating to the law on cohabitation. The responses are now being considered by the Scottish Executive, and I will make an announcement on the proposed way forward in due course.

Justice

Pauline McNeill (Glasgow Kelvin) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive how it plans to cover the on-going workload of the High Court judges who will be absent for the duration of the Lockerbie trial, in particular whether it plans to replace the High Court judges involved.

Mr Jim Wallace: The Lord President has responsibility for the programme of the work of the Supreme Courts and is currently considering the implications, for criminal and civil business, of losing 4 Judges to serve at the Lockerbie trial in Holland. I shall discuss these matters with him shortly. The aim will be to make a sufficient number of new appointments to ensure that the normal business of the Supreme Courts is not disrupted.

Police

Mr Nick Johnston (Mid Scotland and Fife) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of police officers who have retired in the last five years on ill health grounds suffered: (a) stress or mental illness; (b) injuries incurred while on duty, and (c) physical injuries not caused as a result of assault or accident at work.

Mr Jim Wallace: The available information for Scotland is shown in the table below. Grampian Police have not been able to identify the number of retirals on the grounds of stress/mental illness. These are included in categories b and c. Strathclyde Police have only been able to provide figures for total ill-health retirals and retirals due to an injury at work.

  Ill Health Retirements

  

 
 
(a)


(b)


(c)




 
 
Stress/Mental
Illness 

Injuries
on Duty 

Injuries
Not on Duty 



 
Total
 
 
 


 
Ill-Health
 
%of Ill Health
 
%of Ill Health
 
%of Ill Health


 
Retirements
No. 

Retirements
No. 

Retirements
No. 

Retirements


 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 


1994-95
193 

32 

17% 

19 

10% 

21 

11% 



1995-96
214 

29 

14% 

32 

15% 

15 

7% 



1996-97
199 

30 

15% 

31 

16% 

20 

10% 



1997-98
172 

26 

15% 

38 

22% 

21 

12% 



1998-99
171 

34 

20% 

33 

19% 

14 

8%

Staff Costs

Mr Keith Raffan (Mid Scotland and Fife) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the expected total cost of Scottish Executive Ministers’ special advisers and press officers for the current financial year and each of the next three financial years, and to specify the number of special advisers and press officers, how many are attached to each department and the salary of each.

Donald Dewar: Until numbers are final, it is not possible to specify the expected cost of special advisers, either for the current financial year or for the next 3 years.

  There are currently 7 special advisers in the Scottish Executive, 4 of whom work in the Executive Policy Unit. Further special adviser appointments, which are made under the authority of the April 1999 Civil Service Order in Council, will be announced in due course.

  The total cost of Scottish Executive press officers in the current financial year is estimated at £1,260,000. The Scottish Executive employs 29 press officers, Historic Scotland employs 4, and the Scottish Prison Service employs 3 giving a total of 36. Within the Scottish Executive press officers’ portfolios are structured along subject rather than departmental lines. The figure given includes staff costs and estimated overhead costs for the 36 press officers (see notes below). Running cost budgets for forward years are not disaggregated to this level of detail.

  Individual salaries for special advisers and press officers are not revealed in order to protect the privacy of those concerned. I will however make an announcement in due course about the arrangements for special advisers’ pay in Scotland.

  Footnote

  1. The estimated overhead costs are calculated relative to expenditure by the Scottish Executive (other than in agencies) in the financial year 1998-99.

  2. The total cost for press officers includes an estimate of their share of average overhead costs. Overheads include the cost of accommodation and related services; central services such as personnel, library, accounting and audit, recruitment, training and records management; and general non-pay costs such as travel and subsistence, photocopying and stationery.

Transport

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to specify the most recent estimated cost of each road construction project under consideration in its Strategic Road Review.

Sarah Boyack: Seventeen major road schemes are being considered in the Strategic Roads Review. For 3 of them, 2 options are under consideration, producing a total of 20 options. The estimated capital costs of these options (excluding VAT, expressed in second quarter of 1998 prices and rounded to the nearest million pounds) are set out in the table below. A final cost figure can only be determined after a scheme has been put out to tender and none of the schemes in the review have reached this stage.

  

OPTION 

ESTIMATED CAPITAL COST




A1 Haddington – Dunbar (Draft
Order scheme)
£36m 



A1 Haddington – Dunbar
(Expressway)
£32m 



A68 Dalkeith Northern Bypass
£22m 



A78 Ardrossan, Saltcoats and
Stevenston Bypass
£26m 



A8000 Forth Road Bridge to M9
£15m 



A830 Arisaig – Kinsadel 
£10m 



A876 Kincardine Bridge 
£60m 



A9 Helmsdale to Ord of Caithness
£11m 



A90 Balmedie – Tipperty
£18m 



A92 Preston – Balfarg
£21m 



A96 Fochabers – Mosstodloch
Bypass
£12m 



A96 Keith Bypass
£11m 



A985 Rosyth Bypass
£17m 



M74 Northern Extension
£180m 



M77 Fenwick – Malletsheugh
£60m 



M8 Baillieston – Newhouse
(off-line option)
£108m 



M8 Baillieston – Newhouse
(on-line option)
£100m 



M8/M6 Fastlink
£90m 



M80 Stepps – Haggs (on-line
option)
£130m 



M80 Stepps – Haggs (Kelvin
Valley option)
£153m

Water Authorities

Mr Murray Tosh (South of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive to detail the public money made available to each of the water authorities in Scotland in each financial year from 1995/1996 to 2001/2002, in cash and in real terms, either by way of revenue/capital grants or by the allocation of borrowing consents.

Sarah Boyack: The new water authorities were set up in July 1995 but did not take over operational control of water and sewerage services until 1 April 1996. For the period July 1995 to March 1996 they were grant aided, as below.

  

 
£m




 
Cash 

At 1999-2000 Prices




North of Scotland Water Authority
3.2 

3.5 



East of Scotland Water Authority
3.3 

3.6 



West of Scotland Water Authority
3.2 

3.5 




  The tables below show the External Finance Limit (EFL), for each authority for 1996-97 and subsequent years. Borrowing constitutes almost all the authorities’ uptake of EFL. However, for the first 3 years of their existence, the authorities additionally received Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant which was a transitional grant to allow the phasing in of sewerage charges, which were previously included in Council Taxes.

  North of Scotland Water Authority

  

 
 
£m




 
 
1996-97 

1997-98 

1998-99 

1999-2000 

2000-01 

2001-02 



External Finance Limit
cash 1999-2000 prices 

65.9
70.5


48.7
50.9


46.5
47.4


51.0
51.0


40.0
39.0


40.0
38.1




Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant
cash 1999-2000 prices 

22.4
24.0


14.9
15.6


7.4
7.5


-
-


-
-


-
-





  East of Scotland Water Authority

  

 
 
£m




 
 
1996-97 

1997-98 

1998-99 

1999-2000 

2000-
01


2001-02 



External Finance Limit
cash 1999-2000 prices 

70.0
74.9


55.9
58.4


54.7
55.8


70.5
70.5


76.0
74.1


76.0
72.3




Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant
cash 1999-2000 prices 

27.3
29.2


18.2
19.0


9.0
9.2


-
-


-
-


-
-





  West of Scotland Water Authority

  

 
 
£m




 
 
1996-97 

1997-98 

1998-99 

1999-2000 

2000-
01


2001-02 



External Finance Limit
cash 1999-2000 prices 

83.9
89.8


62.5
65.3


71.3
72.7


85.4
85.4


90.9
88.7


92.0
87.6




Domestic Sewerage Relief Grant
cash 1999-2000 prices 

40.0
42.8


26.6
27.8


13.2
13.5


-
-


-
-


-
-





  Note: External Finance Limits for 2000-01 and 2001-02 are indicative figures only.